Thanks to Ganot, this rock bottom isn’t so bad

Every now and then a University of Hawaii basketball fan will say something like this to me:

“Eh, Rick Pitino could’ve been our head coach. Wouldn’t that have been great?”

Actually, Pitino — a basketball Hall-of-Fame inductee and winner of national championships at two different schools — was UH’s head coach.

It was for a very brief time, in 1976. Bruce O’Neil was fired with six games left. Pitino, in his first job out of college, was elevated to the top spot and coached the Rainbows to two wins and four losses at the end of an 11-16 season.

Since Pitino went on to fame and fortune and is widely considered one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game that same ‘Bows fan (who obviously doesn’t care about problems Pitino’s current school, Louisville, may have with the NCAA) often adds something like this:

“Why didn’t they keep Pitino? Typical UH stupidity!”

Actually, there wasn’t really a choice.

O’Neil was fired a few days after the NCAA told UH it had broken rules because players were in a TV commercial. This led to an NCAA report in 1977 (after Pitino was gone) that revealed more than 60 violations of 18 rules, with Pitino implicated in eight of the infractions. According to the report Pitino’s misdeeds included providing round-trip air fare for a player from New York to Hawaii, and arranging for players to trade season tickets for cars.

The report also said Pitino and O’Neil provided misinformation to the NCAA, and recommended that both be banned from having anything to do with UH’s athletic program.

Does some of this sound a little bit familiar?

That NCAA investigation ended with two years of probation. Prize freshman Reggie Carter transferred to St. John’s and several other promising players left. An exciting five-year run of winning basketball at Manoa was history, and the Rainbows hit rock-bottom with a 1-26 record in 1977-78.

They didn’t post a winning record again until 1980-81. It was a long climb back to respectability, and UH didn’t get to the NCAA Tournament for a second time until 1994, under Riley Wallace.

OK, here’s the point of the history lesson:

We probably all agree that this second NCAA basketball investigation was also extremely aggravating, expensive and embarrassing for the team, the athletic department and the school.

But this time, the silver lining is clearly visible. Also, this time rock bottom isn’t the middle of the earth; it may have already been reached.

Some folks think finally winning an NCAA Tournament game like UH did last year is worth all the angst of the past three years. Remember, the NCAA investigation got started because UH self-reported an irregularity in the paperwork of Stefan Jankovic — the Big West player of the year without whom there would’ve been no Big Dance second-round UH team last year.

I’m more impressed with this year’s team, based on what it did with what it had. The Rainbows are one of the most over-achieving teams in the nation. In a media poll released last October, UH was picked to finish eighth in the nine-team conference.

The Big West defending champs went 28-6 the previous season. But this was almost a new team, as the NCAA sanctions including a ban on postseason play had the same result as the 1977 investigation findings: destroying a promising roster of returnees.

This time coach Eran Ganot and staff cobbled together a collection of scrappy players and a former UCLA understudy named Noah Allen who possessed all the tools for stardom, except for experience in the role at the college level.

Hawaii somehow managed to contend in the Big West until a late fade that put the ‘Bows right in the middle of the pack at 8-8.

UH went 14-16 overall and survived a season that could have been disastrous. If this is the view from rock-bottom, it’s not so bad.

The problem is, we don’t know for sure if this is it. Allen has to be replaced, and although the NCAA gave UH back its scholarships it’s going to be another recruiting season of hunting for the best leftovers.

But I’m a believer in Ganot and his mantra about “playing right.” He’s a grinder, he’s organized, he’s smart and he’s full of heart. His team reflects all of that.

Rick Pitino is not walking through that door, fans.

Why would you want a guy that helped get your program in trouble with the NCAA, anyway?

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog here.